BWAT leads again: with care, heart

Blue Water Area Transit continues to impress us with its courage and imagination. We would not expect the bus company to take a leadership role in the opioid crisis that is gripping our community and the nation. Instead, Blue Water Area Transit has stepped in to fill a dangerous gap in the continuum of care that victims of opioid use disorders need.

Except for major cities, most communities are missing at least one of the three sorts of care that recovering addicts need, and it gets worse for smaller and more rural cities and towns. In the Port Huron area, the part that is missing is daily, outpatient care for victims who need services such as medication-assisted treatment. We have in-patient, crisis resources and recovery homes, but lack the third part of the triangle.

It is available at Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Center near Richmond, though. That is close, but not close enough for patients living and working in the Port Huron area who need that care. It is especially inaccessible for those who lack transportation.

Blue Water Transit has stepped in to provide affordable, convenient transportation between Port Huron and Sacred Heart, removing one barrier between victims of the opioid scourge and their recovery and survival.

A BWAT bus leaves Port Huron every morning for Richmond and returns when all patients have completed their treatment at Sacred Heart. Region 10 Prepaid Inpatient Health Plan and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services subsidize the service. Passengers pay $1 per round trip.

It maybe is not the perfect solution. Just as medical, mental health and substance use disorder care tends to leave out rural areas, the Blue Water bus system does not serve all of St. Clair County. It provides excellent service to the greater Port Huron area, though, and because of the services and supports available here, here is where many but not all of those needing care are found.

Don't be misled, though. Those suffering through this epidemic are not a "they." Instead, we have this problem in every community — here and across the nation. We, our friends, our neighbors, our families have been caught up in this and we must help them as they struggle to overcome it.

Blue Water Transit doesn't take no for an answer. Never has. The agencies and its leaders have long been distinguished for figuring out how to say yes, and this Sacred Heart shuttle service is another example of that.

Effective, efficient public transportation is a necessary part of any civilized place. It is one of those amenities that separate the leaders from the followers. It makes a community kinder, gentler and smarter. Jim Wilson, the BWAT board and their staff continue to prove that with every mile their buses roll.